Small-medium sized used diesel hatch £3-4k

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Mon 12 May 2008 14:58
Small-medium sized used diesel hatch £3-4k - Martin1981

I'm finally looking at calling it a day with my elderly 306 1.9TD, cambelt due for replacement and radiator is now leaking beyond the Radweld repair stage. The car is 14 years old and has a staggering 222k on the clock and as such the cost of getting these 2 items sorted is lilkely to be exceed the value of the car.

The cars I am considering, in order of preference are as follows:-

1. Peugeot 307 HDi (although I have heard they are not as good to drive as 306?)

2. Focus 1.8 TDi/ TDCi (good handling, latter engine is better?)

3, VW Golf TDi (poor handling compared with Focus/306?)

4. Fiesta 1.4 TDCi (excellent economy supposedly- although maybe a little underpowered?)

5. VW Polo TDi

Ideally, I am looking to spend £3-3.5k but am willing to go up to £4k as an absolute maximum. I have never driven any of the above cars, so I would like a bit of general advice/ feedback from any owners of the above in terms of reliability, performance, comfort, handling etc in order to assist me with my research and help me make an informed decision. I cover approximately 25k per year, so economy, comfort and to a slightly lesser extent performance are the main prioirities.

Any advice is welcomed.

Cheers

Martin
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Mon 12 May 2008 16:37
Small-medium sized used diesel hatch £3-4k - djt100
Have a look at this thread here, I'm looking for exactly the same thing as well.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=63...8

A coupl of things i've found whilst looking.
1, All the diesels are expensive and I'm not seeing a lot of value in spending £4k when i can get an older model with similar miles/service for £2k.
2, Cheap one sell in the blink of an eye even with 120k on them.

As for your choices,
I've had a 307 xsi petrol 2.0 and it's really heavy car so performance was rubbish and visibility is a nightmare.

SWMBO has a 1.4 polo 2002 model and it's not comfortable for long distance driving and very noisy, If it was better i'd use it and get her a new car rather than look for me. I'm guessing a diesel would be no better confort ot noise wise.
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